All posts tagged office supplies

UPDATE: Staples and the USPS have announced they will discontinue the controversial pilot program that triggered the boycott. See the full story here.

The American Postal Workers Union has been campaigning for months against a U.S. Postal Service program to offer postal services at Staples branches. The union’s problem? The services are being offered by Staples employees, not the better paid–and unionized–postal workers.

As the WSJ reported back in April, the union is worried that if the model becomes successful, it could create an incentive to cut costs by closing down post offices and offloading their services to Stapes stores. The union has been protesting the program, and asking other unions to support their call for a boycott of the office supplies store.

On Saturday, the APWU it got its wish in a big way: the American Federation of Teachers, which represents 1.6 million members, approved a resolution to boycott Staples. More on this after the jump… Read More »

Here’s a statement released today by American Postal Workers Union President Mark Diamondstein, in the wake of grim results and store closures announced by office retailer Staples:

Staples announced today that its sales are declining, its earnings are less than expectations, and it will close 225 stores in North America by the end of 2015. This proves, more than ever, that it’s a bad idea to turn public services over to a private company that can close stores at will, with no public input and no public comment.

Staples currently has a no-bid, sweetheart deal to operate postal counters – staffed by poorly trained, low-wage, high-turnover employees – at more than 80 of its stores. The U.S. Postmaster General has said he plans to expand this “pilot plan” to 1,500 U.S. Staples stores. And bills pending in Congress would make it easier to close and sell off U.S. Post Offices.

What would happen if service is moved to a Staples store, the nearby Post Office is closed and sold – and then Staples closes its store?

The Post Office, lets remember, is hardly thriving: it lost $5 billion in its last fiscal year, its seventh consecutive yearly loss. The service does not receive taxpayer subsidies, and has been closing locations and considering cancelling Saturday deliveries in its mission to cut costs. So when postal workers worry about whether your outlets are around for the long term, it’s worth paying attention.